156
by weissofthecorax
Summary: Luffy gets his hands on a picture dial after the Davy Back Fight and clumsy hole-and-corner silliness ensues as he takes 156 pictures over the next 7 days, capturing unguarded moments until someone finally takes it away from him. Post-Davy Back/Pre-Water 7 LuffyxEveryone.
1. 1

* 1 *

* * *

Usopp gives it to him the day after the Davy Back Fight, the day after his winning match against that foxy split-head - after his _loss_ against that ice bastard - in the morning, when Robin is still too exhausted to leave the warmth of her makeshift pallet and even he feels sluggish, his rubbery limbs thawed but lead weights.

Their nakama are the only reason they're not still frozen, or shattered to bits; they haven't left the lounge, either, not the whole night, not the whole morning. Zoro's put Luffy's abandoned pallet to good use, Nami's curled beside Robin, sharing blankets and books; Chopper's sitting at the table, organizing sharp-smelling leaves, and Sanji's cooking up something that smells so hot and savory his mouth waters.

Usopp's tinkering at his workshop, and Luffy recognizes the funny-shaped and many-colored shells from their adventure in the sky.

He shuffles over to investigate, dragging four blankets with him because he can't seem to shake the chill from his body, and without them his muscles shake and his teeth chatter.

"Neh, Usopp, whatcha doin'," he asks, bouncing down beside his long-nosed friend.

"Trying to organize this lot," Usopp says, gesturing to the pile of Skypiean dials laid out before them. "I've got more than I know what to do with, thanks to my amazing~ negotiation skills."

"Didn't you just swindle them," Luffy says, pawing through the dozens of dials.

"I-I-I certainly did not," he gasps, clapping a hand to his chest. "I'll have you know that rubber bands are the most crucial tool for survival, they have infinite uses - "

"Hey, can I have one," Luffy says, picking up a round flat dial. He raises a finger to press the button at its apex - but Usopp slaps his wrist, and though it only stings a little, he drops the dial and pouts.

"Be careful," Usopp says, "that's an impact dial, you remember those, right? You could really hurt yourself."

He remembers them, all right - the force of it, penetrating even his rubbery body, the blow vibrating through every muscle and bone. He shifts, rubs his chest, which isn't bruised from an impact dial but aches just the same. "How can you tell?" he asks. "They all look the same."

"They _do not_," Usopp says. Luffy opens his mouth to protest but Usopp lifts a finger, touches his long nose, and points across the room. He follows his gaze - Nami has fallen asleep, nestled against Robin's side, their heads together in a pool of orange and raven.

"Here, you can have _this_ one, okay?"

Usopp shoves a rectangular dial into his hand and then sweeps all the other dials away into his bag before hurrying out of the lounge, mumbling about using the water closet.

Well. Luffy shuffles over to his pallet and flops down next to Zoro's snoring form. The dial is really pretty small and thin, and it doesn't look like a shell at all, except for the little circular lens in the center on one side, and an even littler one towards the top on the back.

It's familiar and Luffy hums to himself and leans against Zoro's side, chewing his lip. Zoro grunts and shifts, so they're back-to-back, but he snores on and Luffy is warmer than ever.

Robin's fallen asleep now, too, one slim hand saving her spot in her book. She and Nami snore, too, but it's a different kind of snore than Zoro's, soft and quiet but just as comforting.

"Luffy," Sanji says. He looks up. The cook is watching him watching them. "You want some stew? It's almost done."

Luffy grins and his mouth waters again. "Yeah," he says, and he moves to get up.

"Hold your damn horses, Luffy," Sanji says. "Almost done isn't done! I'll get you a bowl, just stay put."

The cook turns back to the stove and pulls down seven deep bowls.

"Sanji," Chopper says, "could you boil some water, too? I want Luffy and Robin to have some of this tea."

"Sure thing, doctor," Sanji says, filling the kettle without moving away from the stew, which smells like heaven, it must be full of juicy meat, and if Sanji would just step away for a moment, he could -

"Don't even think about it, Luffy," the cook says without even looking.

"Just one taste?"

"No! Are you a damn animal or can you wait one shitty minute?"

Luffy slouches lower against Zoro's back and pouts, turning the little rectangular dial over and over in his hands. He's found the button already, small and circular in the upper righthand corner, but what's the damn thing for?

He lifts the dial to his face and looks into the tiny hole on the back.

He sees Nami's face, slack with dreams, tucked against Robin's shoulder, blankets and comforters pulled up to their chins. Robin's face is soft - not peaceful, not deeply asleep, like she's ready to jump awake at the slightest hint of danger - but the shadow from yesterday, the wide-eyed terror, is gone.

A knot in his chest eases, a knot he hadn't even noticed until the relief shudders through his body. Looking through the dial, he remembers - the old lady at Heaven's Gate, snapping pictures that were later used to identify them at Angel Island.

Watching them, he doesn't think he'll forget this moment - but just in case, he presses the button on the upper righthand corner, and the dial shudders and clicks.

Chopper twitches in his seat, and Luffy isn't sure why but - before the little reindeer can turn, he pulls his arms into the folds of his blankets and shoves the dial into his pocket.

Even if he forgets, something will remember - even if it is just a shell.


	2. 2

* 2 *

* * *

Luffy already knows who his next target is but he waits until later that day, after his stomach is full of Sanji's meaty stew and everyone has spread out across the Going Merry, except for Robin, who is still too tired to leave the lounge.

The sun has risen high in the sky over Long Ring Long Land when Luffy emerges, swaddled in a bright red sweatshirt and too many blankets, per the doctor's orders. It's not very sneaky, so he flips the loose ends up over his head and shoulders like a cloak and tiptoes up the stairs to the afterdeck.

A quick glance around tells him no one's watching - he shoves into the mikan grove and weaves his way to the sternmost border. He peeks around the last tree and grins - Zoro's right where he knew he'd be, slouched in his favorite place against the gunwale, swords propped against his right shoulder, a beer cradled in his hand.

He's not asleep - Luffy ducks back into the grove as his eyelids flicker. He's sharp as ever, his eyes narrowing in Luffy's direction. He looks away, though, out to sea; he thinks he's alone, Luffy knows, because his left hand rises to rub at his right bicep.

It's not bandaged anymore, but it's still purple and red from bruises and frostbite. He feels the same ache in his own muscles; it hurts, but his swordsman doesn't complain. He stares out at the sea, his face somehow calm yet serious at the same time, his eyebrows drawing together as if in deep thought.

Luffy finds himself frowning and raising the picture dial, even though Zoro's awake and he'll hear the snap of the shot for sure - but maybe he wants that, maybe he wants Zoro to look away from whatever's on his grim mind -

He presses the button. The dial clicks, and Zoro's eyes slide away from the sea, towards his hiding spot, though the swordsman doesn't turn his head.

"Luffy," he says, looking back out at the waves. "Lend me a blanket, will you?"

Grinning, Luffy shoves the dial back into his pocket before stepping out of the bushes. He crosses the sun-warmed deck and lends his swordsman a lot more than one blanket.

A bed is always warmer when shared, anyway.


	3. 3

* 3 *

* * *

It's Zoro's snort of surprise and pained grunt that wakes him a few hours later, sweating under too many blankets.

"Hold still," Chopper says, his voice high with exasperation but stern, somewhere just behind Luffy's head.

Luffy wriggles, shoves blankets open to let in some air, and lets his head drop off Zoro's thigh so he can look up and back at the little doctor. The reindeer is gently but firmly pressing a bitter smelling salve into the frost-burns on Zoro's arm.

"I'm fine," Zoro says, but he shifts under Luffy as Chopper presses a little harder. "Stop already, I don't need your smelly ointment, alright?"

"You want the burn to heal, right? There, I'm done, anyway." Chopper wipes his hooves on a towel. "Luffy," he says, when he sees he's awake, "I brought some more tea for you. Drink it this time, okay?"

Luffy wrinkles his nose. "I don't wanna," he says, "it tastes gross." Still he takes the offered mug and downs the astringent herbal tea in one whiny gulp. He sticks his tongue out with a loud, "Eeyuck," then drags Chopper into the folds of his nest of blankets on Zoro's lap.

The little reindeer giggles and wiggles out of his grasp. "_Luffy_," he cries, "you're like an _oven_ in here."

Zoro doesn't protest when Chopper settles into his haramaki instead - maybe he's already asleep, his head tilted back against the gunwale. Luffy pretends to fall asleep too, curled around the little hump the reindeer forms on Zoro's abdomen.

But when the doctor and his swordsman are both sawing logs, he draws the picture dial back out and angles it up at their slumbering faces.

He bites his lip to stifle a giggle and presses the button.

He tucks the dial back into his pocket and nestles closer to his nakama, nosing his doctor's fuzzy ear.

"Dammit, Luffy," Zoro grumbles without opening his eyes, "hold still."

And even if the strong hand on his shoulder is to confine his restless wriggling, the calloused fingers squeezing him closer feel more like five firm hugs.

The more, the merrier.


	4. 4 5

* 4 5 *

* * *

The deck's planks aren't nearly as comfortable as Zoro's lap, even cushioned by so many blankets.

He knows where Zoro's gone even before he lifts his head to check. He feels the whoosh of air, hears the clank of heavy weights being swung. He rubs his eyes and tilts his head around. Sure enough, Zoro paces the other end of the afterdeck, swinging his monstrous weighted barbell like it's nothing but another sword.

He must be hurting still from his Groggy Ring match - _and that ice bastard, damn him, _the reddening burns on Zoro's arm glisten_ darker, purpler, _under Chopper's shiny salve. His face is a stone mask, stoic as ever, but sweat drenches his face and runs in rivulets across the shifting muscles of his torso, catching on the long line of scar tissue to glister like droplets of rain on mikan leaves.

And when he twists away and paces back across the deck, the muscles in his back stand out, straining with effort, or pain.

Luffy reaches under the blankets, over the quietly snoring bump of fur curled against his abdomen, into his pocket for the picture dial.

He draws it out, raises it up - he waits, as Zoro paces across the deck, back and forth and back again, _whoosh_, _clank_, cutting the air with the weights.

On one perpendicular pass, Luffy has a clear shot of his stoic face as Zoro lifts the weights over his head.

For the briefest second, as his finger pushes the button, the stone mask crumbles and Zoro's face creases and he grits his teeth, hisses, but paces on, _whoosh_, _clank - _until Chopper flies out from under the blankets, shouting, "_Zoro, what are you doing? You should be resting!_"

And the pain vanishes without a trace, as the little reindeer charges across the afterdeck, shouting admonishments. But the stoic mask doesn't come back, and Luffy can't help but take another shot as his swordsman rolls his eyes and complains about Chopper's orders to _sit down_ and _rest. _He is verbally unrepentant even as he sets his weights down and raises his hands to ward off the fuming doctor.

When Chopper turns his expert doctor's eye on Luffy, a brief, considering look that speaks too much of bitter gross teas, Luffy leaps from his nest and dashes into the mikan grove.


	5. 6 7 8 9

"Luffy, _I swear to god, _if you fall overboard I am _not _jumping in after you."

Luffy laughs at his long-nosed sniper and swings his feet a little higher_. _He's just managed to divert Chopper's attention by crossing paths with Robin, who emerged from the lounge moments ago to lean on the balustrade - no more than a few feet from the door but enough to stop the little doctor in his tracks.

"I mean it, Luffy," Usopp says, pausing his hammering to fish more nails from his pouch, for the next plank to patch Merry's side. "You know Zoro's asleep under the mikan trees, right? He won't save you either. _Stop that_."

"S'not asleep," he mumbles around a pout. "He's training." He can still hear the clank, even from the other end of the ship.

He swings his feet a little too high on purpose, overbalances, but he slides down the gunwale to the deck instead, hanging upside down.

The hammering pauses.

"Hey, Luffy," Usopp calls from the other side of the gunwale.

"Hm?"

Usopp doesn't answer at first.

Luffy waits, and slips the picture dial out, because Chopper has seated Robin at the little table up by the door to the lounge, and she looks tired under the fuzzy mound of blankets, with her eyes drooping, but she still smiles that slow gentle curve of humor when Sanji spins out to deliver a steaming mug to her hands.

Luffy presses the button without really framing the shot, then realizes it'll be upside down like him, which is all right and kind of a neat idea that he stores away for later - _well, if he remembers - _but he turns the dial over and takes a second shot, as Sanji leans down to say something that makes Robin chuckle.

"Why is six afraid of seven?" Usopp asks, a little too boastful, like it's not what he really wants to say.

Luffy blinks at the odd question. Chopper pops out the door and pats Robin's leg with the heavy tome he carries. The archaeologist crosses her arms, and a pair of extra limbs sprouts from the planking to lift the little reindeer to her lap, despite his vocal protests.

"Why would Chopper be afraid of Robin?" he asks, frowning at the idea, because their doctor is snuggled up in her lap, squirming and blushing from some or other praise. "That's just silly."

"What are you talking about?" Usopp calls. "It's a joke, Luffy! Think about it! Why is six afraid of seven?"

"I dunno," he says, pressing the dial's upside-down button again, because Robin's laughing again, the bright tinkle carrying across the deck, and Chopper's waving his hooves in broad gestures. Maybe they're talking about books.

"C'mon, Luffy, you have to at least try."

The hammering resumes, and Luffy reaches up, grabs the rail, and pulls himself up one-handed to peek over the edge at the precariously perched sniper and his cobbled together repairs.

Usopp's worrying his lip and frowning at the boards, like even he's not sure it's good enough and he's just trying to distract himself. He's always doing that. Luffy raises the dial, and who cares if it's still upside down, he doesn't have time - he presses the button and whips the dial out of sight, just as Usopp looks up with a daring flash of teeth.

"Because seven ate nine!"


	6. 10

* 10 *

* * *

"Sanji~ I'm hungry!" Luffy calls as he swings through the open lounge door.

He skids to a halt.

Nami's bent over a notepad at the table, chewing the end of her pencil, but the lounge is otherwise vacant. "Sanji-kun's not here, Luffy," Nami says around her pencil, not lifting her gaze from whatever she's staring so intently at.

"Well where'd he go?" He pads over to the kitchen. A large bowl of straaaaaawberries from Long Ring Long Land sits on the counter, a handful already sliced on the cutting board. The air is thick with the sugary smell.

"That's weird," he says, as his fingers reach for one long juicy fruit. "Sanji _never_ leaves food half-prepared." He looks around the room again, quickly, and then with more care, just in case - he can't have gone far, if he's left food out.

"I think Chopper pulled him away," Nami says.

Too busy fending off the doctor to catch him red-handed, then. Luffy pops the strawberry into his mouth and hums as the sweet juice coats his tongue.

He risks a peek over his shoulder at Nami.

Her lips purse in that small pout he associates with disapproval - he almost ducks his head, but catches himself. She's not pouting at him, but at whatever she's written in her notepad. As he watches, her frown deepens and she takes her eraser to the paper with a ferocity that will tear the pages if she keeps at it.

She sets the eraser aside and starts writing again, and she's so fixated on the paper, she doesn't brush aside her short ginger hair as it slides from behind her ear.

Maybe she's completely forgotten he's there, because she doesn't even twitch when he reaches for another strawberry.

He holds the fruit between his teeth and enjoys the sugary wash of juice as he moves it from one cheek to the other. She's immersed in her work, so he digs the picture dial out of his pocket, brings it up just over his shoulder, twisting one-handed, slowly, quietly - she may be distracted, but hell has no fury like Nami's -

Still, she has the tiniest little furrow between her eyebrows as her hand moves across the paper, and her tongue catches his eye, protruding small and pink from the corner of her mouth as she concentrates.

He bites down on the fruit in his mouth and presses the button. It clicks and he whips it out of view as Nami glances up at him.

He sucks the berry into his mouth and flashes her a red-stained grin.

"Sanji-kun's going to have your neck," she says. She's none the wiser, though, and Luffy grins a little broader as she bows her head back to her work.

He swallows and grabs another strawberry. "What're you writing?"

"Nothing, nothing." She makes a shooing motion, like she'd rather he leave. He pouts, but then blinks as he watches her - now that he's really paying attention, he sees she isn't _writing_.

Her hand movements are too broad for writing, and her pencil sketches all over the page.

"What're you drawing?" He leaps across the small kitchen space to the bench opposite her and she cries out and covers her notepad with her arms as the table rocks.

"Luffy! You'll knock the table over!"

"What're you drawing? Let me see!" He grabs for the notepad but she whisks it away, so he gets a handful of her arm instead.

"No, it's just a doodle," she says, jerking her arm out of his grasp.

She rises from her seat and turns to go - like Luffy will let her get away that easily! He flings one arm out and traps her in rubbery coils.

"_Luffy!_" she squeals, "Let me go!"

"Let me see~ then!" He lets the recoil of his arm rocket him over to her, but he underestimates his momentum. Nami stumbles under his weight and shouts as she topples over. They land with a thump in a tangle of limbs on Robin's empty pallet and Luffy's hat flies clear off his head.

The notepad is free though, and he reaches for it with his vacant hand. Nami pulls it away and wriggles in his elastic embrace.

"Luffy, it's not even done! Quit it, would you," she yells in his ear.

He laughs and squeezes her a little tighter. "Lemme see~!" He outreaches her easily, stretching the distance to seize the notepad. He pulls but she yanks back, growling at him like an angry cat.

The coveted page wrinkles under his hold and Nami cries, "You're going to rip it!"

Her shoe smacks his shin and he grits his teeth. "Ow, stop kicking me."

"Then let me go!"

"Lemme see first~!"

"No!"

Nami thrashes and he's so surprised that he doesn't react in time when she rolls them over and yanks the notepad from his hand. Her weight is pressing the picture dial into his hip and the corner is jabbing him in the worst way, but as he squirms to shift the damn thing away Nami gasps.

She freezes and her whole face flushes red as the strawberries.

Well if she's going to make it so easy - he stretches for the notepad again, clasps the wrinkled drawing -

"_Luffy!_" she shrieks and his ear is still ringing when she brings her knee up and -

"Oo_oooh_," he groans, and she pulls free of his weakened clutch with the rending of tearing paper. "Na… mi…. _why_…"

She hurries from the lounge, her glowing face swimming in his vision, or is it his vision drowning, because he can't swim, so he _must_ be drowning and where's Zoro when he needs him.

He curls in on himself and brings the torn drawing up to his face.

His own doodled face greets him, smudged with wrinkles, fingerprints, and eraser marks but grinning, gloved fists raised and afro gleaming victorious over all.

Luffy laughs, a small, breathy chuckle, and even if he is on the floor still moaning to himself, he allows the small flower of triumph that blooms in his chest.


	7. 11

* 11 *

* * *

"_San_~ _ji_~ where are~ you!" Luffy crawls out of the lounge a number of agonizing minutes later, dragging himself length by groaning length along the planks.

Robin glances down at him from her seat by the door. Her lips twitch up at the corners. "Captain-san, are you alright?"

"I'm hungry," he moans. "Where's Sanji?" There's no sign of him on the deck below, and the only other sound besides the grumble and rumble of his stomach and the soft rustle of turning pages is the _tap-tap tap_ of Usopp still hard at work on Merry's hull.

"I believe he went below with Doctor-san," she says, returning her dark gaze to the book in her hands. "They've been gone for quite a while. I do hope they haven't tripped in the dark and broken their necks," she adds with a slow, sideways smile down at Luffy.

Luffy leaps to his feet. "_Robin!_ Don't say that, who will feed me?"

"Indeed, we would all starve to death without Cook-san, wouldn't we?"

Luffy's stomach turns just at the idea, or is that a pang of hunger? He clutches his abdomen through his sweatshirt and hunches over as his stomach growls a loud complaint.

"Oo_ooh_," he groans, pouting at his raven-haired archaeologist. "I better find them quick! It'll be okay, Chopper can fix anything!"

He vaults the balustrade to the deck below. He lands with a thump and slap of bare feet, and a creak of tired planks loud enough that the hammering pauses.

"Luffy," Usopp calls from out of sight, "be gentle, would you! I may be the World's Number One Handyman," he boasts, and Luffy can almost _see_ his chest puffing out - "but if you damage even _one _more of Merry's planks before we find a shipwright, I swear I'll use that hard head of yours as a mallet!"

Luffy grins but as he turns to charge into the aft storage room, he hears a giggle from above and freezes.

Usopp's hammer resumes its _tap tap-tap tap_ but Luffy can still hear his sniper mumbling to himself as he works and Robin stifles her next giggle. Luffy tilts his head back and to the side, letting the brim of his hat shade his eyes.

She gazes off to the side as she listens to Usopp's mutterings, one hand pressed to her lips as if she can smooth away the smile there by sheer force - and her eyes crinkle with quiet humor but the fingers of her other hand are restless on the open book in her lap, caressing the page like she's trying to iron out some nonexistent creases.

Luffy has the picture dial out before he realizes what he's doing. A hasty glance around tells him no one's watching, and Robin's actually grinning now as Usopp's carping carries over the gunwale.

"Don't worry, Merry, I'll take care of you," he grouses to the ship, hammering a little harder.

Robin laughs behind her hand and Luffy presses the button.

Then he frowns, because her eyes gleam weirdly wet, and is he just dizzy from hunger or does her laugh sound a little choked?

He lowers the dial, shoves it into his sweatshirt's pocket and sucks in a breath.

"Robin," he hollers and she jumps in her seat. Her book almost falls from her lap, but an extra pair of arms rights it just in the knick of time, and saves her page, too.

She blinks down at him, and the strange moist shine is gone from her eyes, leaving her face flushed, her lips parted but faintly smiling.

"What is it, Captain-san?" she calls when he says nothing.

"Uhhh." He pats his hat but can't think of anything to say, until his stomach clenches and growls again, and he yells the first thing that pops into his head. "I'll get Sanji to make you something hot!"

Her eyes crinkle again, so he adds, "So don't go anywhere!"

"Aye, aye, Captain-san."

-x-

(A/n) - Hope you guys like bittersweet feels because they're my fuckin favorite. ;) So so glad you're all enjoying! The next chapter is already in the works~ Will Luffy ever get his second lunch?

- weiss


	8. 12

* 12 *

* * *

"_San~ ji~ Chop~ pa~!_"

They're not in the aft storage room. He even checks behind the boxes of gross unprocessed food, and the barrels of beer, too, just in case they really have fallen down and broken their necks.

He blows a gusty breath passed his lips.

They can't be below, either, because when he tugs on the hatch to the women's room, it's latched shut. Nami's probably down there hiding the other half of the drawing he's got tucked into the little pocket she sewed for that weird paper Ace gave him back in Alabasta.

He can hunt for that later - his stomach's plaintive cries are more pressing at the moment, so Luffy creeps back to the exit and crouches in the open doorway.

The deck outside glows with an inviting warmth under the late afternoon sun but there's no sign of Sanji or Chopper out there. They _could_ be in the anchor room but what could either of them need from there?

Luffy sucks in a breath. "_San~ ji!_" he calls across the deck, "Where _are~ _you!"

No one answers.

He slumps against the doorframe and moans, "Sanji~ I'm... hungry..."

He sinks to the floor and purses his lips. If _Nami_ was hungry, Sanji would appear in a second -

Luffy bolts upright and slaps his palm with a fist. He peeks out the door just to make sure she's not around, and a quick glance over his shoulder shows him the hatch to her room is still shut.

He clears his throat and cups his hands around his mouth.

"_Sanji~ kun~!_" he calls in his best impersonation of Nami's voice.

He holds his breath for a moment of silence - even Usopp's hammering pauses. Then Robin giggles from above, and the _tap tap-tap tap_ resumes.

"Captain-san, what are you doing?" she asks, leaning over the balustrade.

"Shhh, trying to lure Sanji out," he whispers, not very quietly, scouring the deck for any sign of his cook's hiding place. "He always comes for you guys," he adds, pouting up at her.

Robin chuckles and settles back in her seat. "Perhaps he can't hear you," she says.

It sounds like a dare to Luffy, so he puffs out his chest and yells, "_San~ ji~ kun~!" _as loud as he can while still maintaining the higher pitch of Nami's voice.

"Luffy, what the hell are you doing?"

"Sh-shh, trying to - _Nami!_" he cries, nearly jumping out of his skin when he turns to pout and finds the very woman he's been impersonating standing behind him, her hands on her hips, tapping her foot.

She's changed into a sleeveless white blouse and a pair of short denim shorts, maybe because it's so warm today, but he suddenly misses the jeans she wore yesterday.

"Hey!" Nami snaps her fingers under his nose. "You really think Sanji-kun can't tell the difference between your voice, and a real Lady's?" She touches a hand to the soft ruffled neckline above her breast.

He sticks out his lower lip. "I thought it was pretty good."

She steps forward and Luffy ducks - but she walks right by him, out the door into the sunlight, her heels clicking on the planks.

"Have you even tried looking?" she calls over her shoulder. "This ship's not _that_ big, Luffy."

"M'too hungry," he mumbles as he slides down the doorframe to the planks again.

Still, as he watches her saunter over to the stairs, he's not missing the jeans so much anymore and he laughs.

Because there's a scarlet handprint painted on each cheek of her backside, like someone snuck up behind her and grabbed two handfuls, and he's almost sorry he didn't think of it himself. He grins at the thought, because she would definitely deck him but her squeal would be _so worth _the abuse.

And yeah, it's kind of cute, and her hips sway with her confident stride, but most important is the handprints are his favorite color and he may be in the shade but he pulls at his collar because he's suddenly a little too warm under all his layers as he draws out the picture dial.

She reaches the stairs and lifts a smile to Robin overhead, and he snaps a shot while she's still distracted.

Then his stomach growls and cramps and he curls his knees up to his chest and moans.

"_San_… _ji_… _where_…"

Maybe if he sounds desperate enough, his cook will appear.

Sanji never can deny a starving mouth, and it's too easy for Luffy to sound like he's dying of hunger.


	9. 13 14 15

* 13 14 15 *

* * *

He lies there on the shady roughened planks in the doorway and listens as the jaunty beat of Nami's heels counterpoints the knocking of Usopp's hammer, the heels rap-rap-rapping each step as she climbs to Robin's side, the hammer tap-tap-tapping the Merry's hull in tireless labor. With the glow of the sun, a cozy warm hearth just out of reach, and the gentle push of the ocean's tide rocking Merry in its sleepy midday cradle, Luffy slips in and out of a doze, just enough of a drowse to ignore the plaintive gurgles of his stomach, humming a quiet tune to the soft lilting murmur of his ladies' voices.

The stairs on Luffy's other side creak under heavier footfalls, bare feet, from the soft thump and scuff of toughened soles, and he knows it's Zoro before he even tilts his head to check.

His swordsman glances down at him as he hops off the last step, rubbing a towel slowly back and forth behind his neck. He shakes his head but Luffy sees the slight upward quirk of his lips before Zoro turns away and crosses the deck to the hatch to the men's room.

He bends and pulls the door up, puts one foot down on the ladder - then he looks down and freezes.

Luffy rolls onto his stomach to get a more comfortable view because, instead of climbing down the ladder, Zoro steps back up onto the deck and slides down the mast to sit on the deck by the open hatchway.

Zoro slides the towel up the back of his head and lets it hang down in his face. By all appearances, he drops off to sleep in seconds and Luffy stifles a snort behind a hand, because his hair bristles up around the edges of the towel like wind-tousled grass.

Even though Luffy lies in the shade, he can feel the heat radiating off the sun-baked planks, and Zoro's tanned skin still glistens with sweat from his routine, droplets pooling against the ridges of his collarbones and catching on the jagged line of scar tissue - but his swordsman slouches against the mast and soaks up the sun anyway. He's even leaning ever so slightly toward the sun, like a plant hungry for nutrients.

Luffy pulls the picture dial out. He sneaks a peek at Nami and Robin above, but they have their heads together, whispering and giggling about something, and Zoro is so relaxed that his head is nodding, so he lifts the dial up.

With the sunshine glowing down on Zoro, Luffy can almost imagine flowers bursting forth from the prickly green pasture of his head and he's snorting so hard with barely suppressed laughter that he can't even keep the dial still.

He sucks in a deep breath to steady himself, eyes watering with the effort to withhold giggles, and presses the button.

"I _do_ feel kind of sorry for him," Nami's voice murmurs from above. Luffy tucks the dial under his chin and squashes his face against the planks to muffle his chortling - it wouldn't do for him to draw _Nami's_ attention.

When he peeks up at them, though, Nami and Robin are still communing cheek-to-cheek, quieter now so he can't even hear what they're talking about. Whatever it is, it must be funny, because he hears an undercurrent of mirth in Nami's fast clipped speech, and Robin lifts a hand from her book to hide her smile as it widens into a grin.

The opportunity is too tempting to let pass - Luffy scuttles forward on his elbows, inch by inch until he's in the sunlight with a better angle. He lies close to the planks and twists around, just a little - he can't be too obvious - he's getting better at this, he _knows -_

He snaps the shot and throws himself back to the planks, one hand with the dial shoved down the neck of his sweater - and not a second too soon because Nami and Robin straighten in their seats.

Nami stands and steps over to the railing. Her gaze fixes on him and for a moment her brow furrows - _was he too obvious?_ Luffy's heart pounds an uneasy tempo against the deck - but then the frown lifts and she _winks_.

She lifts her hands to cup her mouth and calls, "Sanji-kun~ where are~ you?"

There's a muffled thump before she's even finished her summons, followed by a low curse, made indistinct by distance.

"Cook-san," Robin joins in with a softer entreaty.

Another stifled curse, and Luffy thinks it's belowdeck - far enough away that Nami doesn't seem to have heard it.

It's Sanji, all right, and his voice rises to just within deciphering range as he shouts, "_Dammit, _Chopper, can we do this later? The Ladies _need~_ me!"

"That's weird," Nami says from above, "usually he comes dancing when we need something." She exchanges a shrug with Robin.

"Perhaps he went below for a rest and became entangled in his hammock. I do hope he hasn't choked to death."

"_Robin!_"

The thought alone makes Luffy break out in a sweat, or maybe that's the sun too warm on his back. No need to worry, though, he can still hear Sanji grouching, and Chopper's smaller voice, high with protest. They must be in the men's room belowdeck - down the hatchway blocked by Zoro's snoring bulk.

Well, maybe if he's careful enough…

Luffy crawls forward hand over hand until he reaches Zoro. Gently, gently - well _he_ thinks he's being gentle as he clambers into Zoro's lap. Zoro grunts and shifts to accommodate the sudden weight - but he doesn't open his eyes or shove him off, and Luffy releases a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"San~ji-kun," Nami calls again, "isn't it time for a snack~"

"A cup of coffee would be _wonderful_ right about now~" Robin chimes in.

There's a thud from below, and another curse, more distinct now that Luffy's closer to the open hatch. Luffy wriggles forward a few inches across Zoro's legs but freezes when his swordsman starts grumbling.

He can _just_ make out the squabbling belowdecks but he doesn't want to wake up Zoro so he lies there, slack as a slab of juicy red meat waiting to be grilled - _he's salivating just thinking about it - _straining to hear over Nami's repeated calls.

The sun blazes down on his back and sweat beads up hot along his spine under the layers of his vest and sweatshirt. Zoro's even warmer under him - his thighs seem to radiate heat against his cheek and abdomen, like Sanji's oven just before dinnertime and _that _starts his stomach complaining again, deep rumbly growls that reverberate through his whole torso.

He tries to suppress his reflexive groan so he can listen to the argument below, but it still comes out as a low whiny keen.

"Let _go_, Chopper," Sanji growls, his voice rising to Luffy's ears, "the _Ladies need me_!" followed by grunts and what sounds like fingers scrabbling at wood.

"Not until - I'm done with you - they _won't_," Chopper wails and Luffy can hear his hooves scratching and thumping the planks as they wrestle below. "Why are you struggling so much? Dammit - _Sanji - _sit _down - __please_. Even _Zoro_ didn't give me this much trouble!"

The scuffle and scrambling drops off immediately without even a curse. Luffy claps a hand over his mouth to stifle a giggle as he imagines Sanji's face: his cook holding a frustrated breath, his curly brow twitching and face flushing with chagrin.

Below, Chopper puffs out, "_Thank_ you," the pitchy edge of exasperation leaving his voice with the gusty exhalation. "Sit over here, please."

Sanji sighs, and the planks creak and settle under his weight, but his cook's footsteps are soft - not the usual tap and click of Sanji's dress shoes. Is he barefoot? Luffy braces his toes against the deck and pushes himself forward, a few more inches, a few more, reaching for the edge of the hatchway -

He's halfway off Zoro's lap with his fingers curled around the frame of the hatch when a hand falls heavy on his back and snags the waistband of his pants. Familiar rough knuckles rasp against the small of his back.

"_Luffy_," Zoro rumbles, "leave off, would you?" Luffy cranes his head around and looks up at his swordsman - but Zoro hasn't even opened his eyes.

Luffy strains against his grasp, using his grip on the hatch as leverage to stretch forward, but Zoro holds him fast.

He'll have to stretch right out of his pants if he wants to reach Sanji.

He tightens his hold on the hatch's frame and drags himself forward, letting his torso stretch further and further away from Zoro's lap and his trapped legs. He wants to whine at Zoro, but he's nodded off again and Luffy's _so close_ and he doesn't want Sanji, or Chopper with his superior hearing, to catch on -

It only takes a handful of seconds but by the time he's stretched his torso over to the hatchway, he's huffing and puffing and trembling with the effort of keeping himself extended. Chopper _did_ tell him not to strain himself - but he'll be damned if he's going to let getting frozen into stasis by that _ice bastard_ slow him down, even if his bones do ache and his muscles shake with every inch he stretches, and his skin burns like it's not quite as stretchy as usual -

He props his elbows in the corners of the open hatch so he can rest without fighting the recoil of his own rubbery body. Zoro's grip is still firm even though he's snoring again, but maybe he can get a _little_ closer.

Luffy wriggles his legs forward another inch - then he freezes because his pants slip down around his pelvis, pinching at his hips - any _more_ shifting and he'll slingshot right out of them.

"Luffy," Nami calls from above, "what _are_ you doing?"

Luffy tilts his head so he can see her from his precarious perch in the hatchway. He holds a finger up to his lips and hisses a "Shhhh," at her, maybe a little louder than necessary. Nami furrows her brow at him but leans against the railing and waits.

He dips his head back down into the hatch, trying to keep off to the side until he locates Sanji sitting on the cushioned bench at the sunken table in his underwear, Chopper at his feet, massaging Sanji's right thigh with what smells like the same ointment he used on Zoro earlier. Even from up in the hatch, Luffy can smell the bitter salve.

Luffy shifts over to lean against the other edge of the hatch, so the two can't see him even if they look up, and reaches into the front of his sweatshirt for the picture dial.

Sanji's quiet but when Luffy cranes his head around the edge of the hatchway, he can tell he's gritting his teeth - his jaw juts and the muscles in his cheek jump as Chopper digs his hooves into the frost-burnt skin of Sanji's lower thigh and knee.

"Are you done yet?" Sanji asks, a hiss between his clenched teeth.

"Almost," Chopper replies without looking up from his work. "Does it hurt?"

Sanji's automatic answer is, "It's fine," but then, after a moment of Chopper's rough, hoofed kneading, he adds, "Your hooves are damned sharp, though."

"I'm sorry but I have to make sure I get your knee good, okay? Or your joint won't mend well. Do you want to be a cripple for the rest of your life?"

Sanji doesn't answer. He just closes his eyes and leans into the bench's back - and even though the tension in his jaw ruins the picture of relaxation, Luffy has to bite down on his lip to stop from laughing - because Sanji's underwear _has little pink hearts on it and when will he ever get an opportunity like this again -_

Luffy keeps his elbows firmly in place and lifts the dial to his face, snorts burbling past his teeth as he snaps a shot.

"Alright, I'm done, I just need to wrap it now," Chopper says, wiping his hooves on a towel before picking up a roll of elastic bandages.

"Shit, Chopper, I don't need any - "

"Your knee needs to be wrapped," Chopper snaps. He starts bandaging the knee with a few quick, tight motions before Sanji can try to pull away. The little reindeer pauses and Luffy catches the glint of the black-eyed glare he gives Sanji. "And don't you _dare_ remove it. I'm not kidding, Sanji, you need to take it easy or you could damage your tendons more than they - "

"Alright, alright, I get it, just make it damn quick, would you?"

Chopper bends back to his work, but Luffy can hear him grumbling as he wraps the rest of the knee and secures the elastic end with a pair of pins. Then he passes to Sanji a black open cylinder of padded cloth that Luffy thinks might look like Ace's elbow guard, only bigger. Sanji stares at it but doesn't take it.

Chopper shakes it at him. "It's a knee brace - "

"I know what the shitty thing is!"

"Well put it on then!"

"I don't fuckin' need it."

Chopper narrows his eyes at him. "Yes, you do. Doctor's orders. Put it on, _now._"

Sanji growls a wordless oath and snatches the proffered brace. He's still grousing under his breath as he pulls it up his leg.

"You know, you could rub the salve in yourself," Chopper says as he adjusts the brace's straps so it's nice and snug, "but it's better if someone else does it because you really need to massage it deep and it's going to _hurt_. Maybe you and Zoro can apply it on each other - "

Sanji nearly shrieks, "I'd rather cut off my own damn leg than massage that stupid shitty swordsman's arm!"

Luffy hears a snort behind him, then choking and coughing, and he's got tears in his eyes from trying so hard not to laugh.

Chopper shrugs and passes Sanji a tub of the salve. "This needs to be applied three times a day, and I don't care _who_ you ask but you better bet a whole pack of those awful cigarettes I'll be checking! And for both our sakes _please_ keep it wrapped!"

It's as good a time as any, before Sanji _really_ blows his top - Luffy shoves the dial down his sweatshirt again, steadies his grip on the frame of the hatch and stretches his head down into the men's room.

"_San~ji~!_" he yells, startling both his cook and the doctor. "_There_ you are~! I've been looking for you for _hours_! I'm _hungry_, _feed me_!"

Sanji jumps up from his seat and reaches for his pants, quick as lightning, but he grimaces openly as he straightens up. "_Fuck_, hold your shitty horses a minute, Luffy, I can barely walk with this damn thing."

"But I've _already_ waited," Luffy moans, "for _hours_."

"At least let me put my fuckin' pants on!"

Luffy laughs but his head snaps back to his torso and smacks against the frame of the hatch, knocking his hat clear off. "Ooowww," he groans, even though it doesn't really hurt.

Chopper catches his hat as it floats down. "Luffy, you shouldn't be stretching so much," he says with a small frown. "You've got burns too, you know. Don't make me lather you too."

Luffy sticks his tongue out. "You can try."

Chopper runs a hoof up his arm like he's rolling up a sleeve, but as he opens his mouth to reprimand his careless patient, Sanji limps by and claps a hand on the ladder. "Ah - Sanji, stop! You shouldn't be climbing any ladders or stairs - "

Sanji pauses, his bad leg already propped on the first step. "How the fuck else do you expect me to get around this damn ship?"

"The rest of us can help, but you really shouldn't use that le - "

"I'll help!" Luffy exclaims and before Chopper has fully comprehended what this entails, he stretches one arm back and slings it down, latching onto Sanji's forearm.

Sanji has one brief second of understanding, in which his eyes fly wide open and his cigarette drops from where he's been grinding it between his teeth, before Luffy's arm recoils, flinging himself and his cook up through the hatch and into Zoro's lap.

Between Zoro's outraged shouts, Sanji's hair-curling profanities and his own cackling laughter, Luffy can't even hear Chopper's squeals.

"_That is not the kind of help I meant!_"

-x-

(A/n) I hope you guys enjoyed! This chapter gave me a lot of trouble (and it's long) but I'm satisfied with the way it turned out~ Again, please don't expect me to update every day, because you'll be lucky if I update every week. I write these for fun and I have original stuff to work on too, so please have patience. If you want to catch snippets of in-progress chapters, skip on over to my writing blog (the link is in my profile). Thanks for sticking with me~

- Weiss


	10. 16 17 18 19 20

* 16 17 18 19 20 *

* * *

By the time Luffy's had enough grilled sausages and cottage potatoes for second lunch to satisfy the hunger of an entire army, it's time for Sanji to start his dinner preparations and the whole crew has assembled in the lounge to watch the cook dance around the kitchen.

"Hey everyone, what do you think about beef stroganoff," Sanji asks over the drumming of Luffy's hands on the tabletop. He's already pulling ingredients down from the cabinets, herbs, a few onions and green things, _yuck_.

Luffy squints. "Strongnuff? I'm already strong enough."

"For dinner, idiot," Sanji says.

Nami reaches across the table and slaps her hands down over his to halt his nonsensical thumping. "Stro-_ga-noff_," she repeats, enunciating the syllables, obviously for his sake.

Luffy tilts his head and pretends to pay attention. "Oh, I see."

Nami narrows her eyes - she's not fooled, and Luffy purses his lips and slides his eyes off to watch Usopp busying himself at his workshop platform. He hears Nami sigh. "Of course you see," she mutters. "Listen, Luffy: it's got beef in it."

He looks back to her immediately, his tongue lolling out. "_Oh_?"

"Cognac, too," Sanji says, rummaging under the stove for a large heavy skillet. Zoro straightens in his seat next to Luffy.

"Is it sweet?" Chopper asks from his seat between Nami and Robin, his voice piping up over the clatter of heavy pots and pans.

"Not exactly," Sanji admits. "But it has a creamy dairy sauce."

"Oh, that sounds lovely, Cook-san."

"And - ah, shit." Sanji sets a large pot down on the stove with a frustrated _clang_. "It has mushrooms, too," he says, looking across the room to Usopp, who looks up and starts sweating just at the mention of the dreaded item in question.

"Oh? Are you allergic, Long-nose-kun?" Robin asks, even going so far as to lay her book down on the table as she glances between their cook and the sniper, her eyes gleaming with macabre interest. "Will your throat swell closed and suffocate you?"

"N-n-no!" Usopp squeaks.

Luffy would pound the table laughing but Nami still has his hands pinned, so he claps his bare feet under the table instead, kneeing Zoro in the process (_"Oi!" Zoro growls, ramming him with an elbow_). "Usopp ate a poison mushroom when he was a kid, the dummy," he exclaims, his straw hat bouncing off his head from the combined jostling of his own mirth and the shoving war started by his swordsman.

"I almost _died_," Usopp declares, leaping to his feet. He puffs out his chest and boasts, "It was by sheer force of my brave warrior's will that I overcame the ordeal! I hallucinated for _five days_, and you can't _imagine_ the nightmares - "

Luffy dissolves into giggles.

"Like you've never eaten a poison mushroom, Luffy," Usopp yells, tossing a wrench across the room - but it bounces harmlessly off his rubbery skull and almost hits Nami in the face (_"Usopp! I'm taking that out of your allowance!"_).

"Oh sure, me and Ace, we tried lots of mushrooms back home," Luffy says, not even noticing the exchange as he elbow-wrestles Zoro. "The Laughing Mushrooms are the most fun though!" Especially after Sabo l - but he turns his thoughts away from that.

"Not all mushrooms are poisonous," Robin says into the lull. "Certainly not Cook-san's cooking mushrooms."

"That's right," Sanji says, digging through the refrigerator - pulling out carrots, butter, the hated mushrooms - "We can even have Chopper identify them, if it'll make you feel better." He sets the ingredients on the counter and turns to grin at the little reindeer. "He'll know damn well if they're poisonous. Isn't that right, Dr. Chopper?"

Luffy laughs as his doctor wiggles in his seat, waving his arms in dismissal, though he can't help but notice the wet shine of his beady dark eyes. "O-o-of c-course I can~!" he squeals, "Y-you c-can't make me happy by calling me doctor~ you bastard~!"

"Well, come and have a look-see." Sanji gestures to the pounds of mushrooms on the counter and leaves them to the reindeer's inspection so he can retrieve a mouthwateringly huge chunk of roast from the freezer.

"These are just Portabellos," Chopper announces, after a moment of perhaps _too _thorough inspection, hopping down to return to his seat. "Perfectly edible, nothing to worry about!" He blows out a gusty breath, like he was worried, but he answers Luffy's grin with a dimpled nose-crinkling one of his own.

"See? How's that, Long-nose?" Sanji pauses and leans against the counter as he draws out a cigarette, lighting it with a practiced flick despite a slight tremor in his hands. Luffy narrows his eyes. "Think you can give some perfectly damn edible Portabellos a try? Or do I need to change my perfectly good recipe just for you?" Their cook lowers a curly brow at the sweating sharpshooter, taking a pull off his cigarette so the ember glows, a flickering smolder across his serious expression.

Usopp rises to the challenge, practically inflating with pride. "I'm the Bravest Warrior of The Seas, The Great Captain Usopp-sama, aren't I? No mushroom can triumph over my Herculean strength! _In fact_, I'll have you know, I'm now _immune_ to - "

"Yeah, yeah, thanks for your input, Captain Long-nose," Sanji interrupts, blowing rings of smoke toward the ceiling. He turns back to the counter and starts arranging foods for chopping. Luffy squeezes his hands into fists under Nami's and purses his lips - no one else is watching their cook, but Luffy catches the slight limp as he moves about the kitchen, the careful way he holds himself, not putting too much weight on his right leg - and he can see the bulge of the knee brace under his pant leg.

"Luffy?" Nami's voice is hushed, and her hands press his fists.

"Nothin'," he mumbles, shifting his gaze to the tablecloth. "I'm just hun - "

"Don't you fuckin' _dare_," Sanji cuts in, whirling around to brandish his cutting knife, "say that shitty word! I _just_ finished filling that fuckin' _pit _of yours and we don't _have_ enough food for you to eat _seven_ meals a day!"

There's a strained silence for a few heartbeats, as Sanji puffs clouds of smoke through gritted teeth like an overtaxed train, but then Luffy pushes his lips out and blows a raspberry and Chopper giggles and blows one back from across the table.

Nami is all seriousness, though. "Sanji, are we running low?"

"Aahh, Nami-_swaaan_~!"he croons, his wrath vanishing like his cigarette smoke. "Please don't worry your beautiful head, there's more than enough for you and Robin-chan~ Feeding our fool captain, on the other hand… Would you _please_ consider getting a refrigerator with a Luffy-proof lock?"

"Maaaybe," Nami says to a chorus of "Boo boo!" from Luffy (and Chopper, imitating him), "but only _after_ we get Merry all fixed up."

"Nami-swan is lovely _and _merciful~!" Sanji sings.

"We _can't _run out of food, Sanji," Luffy whines, "_what will I eat?_"

Sanji sighs and turns back to his chopping. "Much as I damn hate to agree with you, we do need to replenish our stores. That idiot marimo (_"I'll fuckin' cut you, shitty cook!"_) and I will go ashore to hunt tomorrow - "

"No!" Chopper rises from his seat and jumps onto the tabletop. "How many times do I have to tell you two to take it easy! _Especially_ you, Sanji!"

Luffy gapes at Chopper's sudden forwardness - and Sanji reacts even worse to the assumed slight to his vigor, spinning around so fast his knee almost gives out - and _that_ just stokes the fire of his ire more. "_Well who the fuck else is goin' to get you fools food!_" he yells.

Chopper's wide stance falters and the little reindeer gulps - a second's glance to Luffy for support, and Luffy grins encouragement - "I-I-I will," he declares. "U-U-Usopp and I will g-go hunting tomorrow!"

"Wh-what?!" Usopp exclaims from across the room. "Why _me_?"

Chopper glares, and Nami, too, behind him - Usopp backpedals and lifts his chin a brave extra inch. "Of course, if the Good Doctor needs my Brave Expert Aid, I will gladly give it."

Chopper squirms, but puts off his bashful dance in favor of throwing beady black visual daggers at Zoro and Sanji both. "Well, does that satisfy you two? Can you _please_ rest? I _swear_, you're the _worst - _"

"Shit, Chopper, fine! I damn get it already," Sanji grits out, turning back to his chopping with a more pronounced limp than before.

"Zoro?" Chopper waits, hooves on his hips.

Zoro shifts, pressing his right shoulder against Luffy's, as if he can hide the injured arm from view. "I'll get bor - "

"_Zoro!_"

"I guess I can go _one_ day without training," he allows, propping his chin on his left hand, looking bored already.

"_Thank_ you," Chopper sighs and clambers back down to his seat. He lays his head on the tabletop and groans.

"Are you quite alright, Doctor-san?"

"These monkeys are driving me up the wall," the little reindeer mumbles.

"It'll be an hour or so until dinner's ready," Sanji says, his voice gentle with apology, though he doesn't turn from his chopping. "Why don't you have a kip in the meantime?"

"I couldn't," he protests, but Nami adds, "Even the Good Doctor needs some rest some time, right?" and while the reindeer flushes and fidgets, Robin pulls his head down into her lap. He's out before his next objection has even crossed his lips as an incoherent mutter, his blue nose burrowed against Robin's abdomen.

A hush falls over the lounge, broken only by the methodic _thunk thunk thunk _of Sanji's cutting blade on the chopping board, and the occasional metallic clink as Usopp fiddles with his current project. Zoro joins Chopper in the dreamworld, snoring into his hand.

"San~ji," Luffy pleads into the calm, "can I _please_ have the extra straaaawberries, at least?"

Sanji sighs and hunches his shoulders. He lays the knife down and reaches for the coveted bowl of leftover long strawberries. "Fine, but _only_ because you asked so nicely," he says as he crosses to set the bowl in front of Luffy.

Luffy stares at the juicy fruits until Sanji has limped back to his chopping, then lifts his gaze to Nami. Caught in the act of studying him, she blinks and straightens. "Are you gonna feed me?" he asks with a grin.

She scrunches her nose at him. "_Why_ would I do _that_?" she demands, twisting her mouth like the idea is repulsive, but Luffy only laughs.

"Because you won't let go of my hands!"

"Ah!" Nami releases him like she's been holding venomous snakes and only just realized. Her cheeks glow but she puffs them out with a pout. "Feed yourself, you rubbery dork," she huffs, crossing her arms.

"Suit yourself," Luffy says, popping one of the ripe berries into his mouth before slithering down under the table to lie on his back.

He rolls the berry around in his mouth, and even though he's not really hungry, he hums to the gush of sugary juice across his tongue and licks the sticky liquid off his lips.

"Luffy," Nami says, her voice low, "don't you _dare - _"

He touches her leg to let her know where he is - she jerks in surprise, almost kicking him in the head, but relaxes when all he does is wrap his left hand around her ankle.

Luffy looks around from his new vantage point. It's a good spot, well-hidden by the tablecloth - it's perfect, but he'll take his time, maybe have another fruit… He stretches his hand up to the tabletop, gropes around for the bowl - only to have his hand gripped tight by another.

"_Luffy_," Nami says with an edge of warning, "You'll knock the whole bowl over."

He tenses, waits for the slap on his wrist that will surely come -

Instead, the hand holding his softens, turns his over, velvety fingertips smoothing his fingers open - and then a strawberry is placed in his palm and his hand is released without a word.

He draws his hand back under the table. She's given him the fattest berry in the bowl and he places it against his lips for a moment, breathing in the fresh sugared fragrance of its skin, before he presses his teeth into the plump flesh. He's rewarded with a syrupy flood of juice that nearly overflows his mouth. He slurps it down noisily but the fruit is practically bleeding candied heaven that pours into his mouth with every pass of his tongue.

He squeezes Nami's ankle and hears her soft answering chuckle, muffled by the table's scarred planks.

"You're welcome, Captain."

He's determined to get a picture of everyone, this time, so he glances around, still sucking on the strawberry, drawing little circles on Nami's ankle with his thumb.

Zoro's an easy target, slouched all the way over now and sawing logs louder than ever. From under the table, all Luffy can see are his legs, his bare feet and scarred ankles, the bottom edge of his jagged abdominal scar where it disappears into his haramaki - and his right arm hanging slack across his thighs, burnt and bruised bicep just barely within view where it leans against the edge of the tabletop.

Luffy reaches into his sweatshirt and pulls the picture dial out. He wants to get everything in the shot - it's not very often he gets an up-close inspection of Zoro's ankle scars, and he almost chokes on his strawberry laughing when he remembers _he got those scars trying to cut his own feet off_ just to escape that trap on Little Garden.

There's strawberry juice in his nose and he snorts as he lifts the dial up and tilts it on its side, smelling and tasting the honeyed liquid at the same time. But Zoro fills the little window inside the box, scars, burns and all, and Luffy grins around the mangled fruit in his mouth and presses the button.

Beyond his swordsman, Usopp curses under his breath, bending over his work. Luffy adjusts his aim, sucking the remains of the strawberry into his mouth and pushing the fruit off to one cheek so he can stick his tongue out and lap up the excess juice on his lips.

He watches his frustrated sniper through the viewfinder. He's tinkering with some dials and - _is that Nami's Clima Tact? - _Usopp's lips purse as turns the Skypiean relics over and over as if deciding which will work best, and a wrinkle slowly deepens between his brow as he discards dial after dial.

Then he happens upon a small round red shell and his face brightens with a grin, the creases lifting away as his eyes widen, and Luffy presses the button before he's even decided that it's what he wants - but Usopp sets to work on a length of blue steel, muttering some technical nonsense to himself.

Luffy rolls over to face the other side of the table, gripping Nami's ankle for leverage. She must have felt the shift because her hand appears under the tablecloth with another strawberry.

He oohs his appreciation, but his hands are occupied so he leans up on an elbow and takes the fruit in his mouth. His lips brush her fingertips - she jerks her hand back with an outraged, "_Luffy!_" but he sniggers around the strawberry, his lips tingling like he's been zapped.

He lies back again, still chuckling as Nami grumbles overhead. Juice gushes over his tongue but he's already turning his attention to his next target - Chopper, and Robin.

His little reindeer snuffles in his sleep, his ears twitching with busy dreams. Robin lays a hand on his head, cradling him like he's a baby as her fingers massage his fuzzy ear.

Luffy purses his lips but almost loses his strawberry. Sucking the fruit into his mouth, he angles the picture dial so he can see up past the tablecloth, past Robin's long legs peeking through her robe, to the quiet smile on her face. He can tell she's returned to her book, her eyes tracking back and forth across pages he can't see. She's probably propped the book up with an extra hand.

He bites down on the berry before wrapping his tongue around it, smearing the sweet nectar around his mouth as he adjusts the dial this way and that, trying to decide what the best angle is.

Finally, he turns the dial on its side again, filling the image inside the window with the long smooth length of her crossed legs, Chopper's ear twitching against her fingertips, and best of all, the slight open curve of her upturned lips - it's just what he's looking for and he presses the button without a second's hesitation.

Four down, two to go.

Luffy tilts his head and looks up at Nami - well, at her legs, her free foot tapping its sandaled heel against the planks, jogging her knee and making the toned muscles of her thigh jump.

He flips the strawberry around in his mouth, squeezing out the last of its juice with his molars before swallowing it, _thinking - _a picture of just her lap seems boring, even though her toes curl as his fingers trace circles around the knob of her ankle and he can picture her nose scrunching as she suppresses a giggle.

He almost giggles himself. Instead, he pulls himself up and tucks his head and chest into her lap, letting his right hand with the dial fold against his lap - careful to keep the tablecloth draped over his head, of course, so she won't see his secret activities - _clandestine_, a word he saw in one of Robin's books, a good fat word leaden with mystery, especially since he had to ask her what it meant.

Nami shifts under his sudden weight, but much to his surprise, she doesn't shove him off. Luffy presses his cheek into the satiny slope of her thigh, savoring the contrast between the rough denim of her shorts and the shift of silken skin over hard muscle.

He feels the tablecloth move, and then her fingers comb through his hair, mussing it and then smoothing it back from his forehead. Her left hand, he thinks, and he releases her ankle, brushing his own left hand up her calf to take hers - yes, he knows it as soon as his fingers graze over the small ridge of scar tissue on the back.

_Not a battle scar like Zoro's_. He pulls the hand down his cheek, smiling as the matching scar on her palm rasps against his lips. No, these scars are from protecting Usopp from the monsters of her worst nightmares, the only way Nami knew how.

And that's just as worthy of praise, though Nami probably doesn't want any - she doesn't think scars are cool, after all - so instead of saying anything, Luffy strokes his thumb up across her palm, forcing her fingers to unfurl, and presses a kiss to the pale ridge for two, three heartbeats that he counts with the pulse thrumming like a little bird against his lips.

When he releases her hand, she catches his, her fingers curling over his, her arm curving over his back. Her free hand takes up the other's previous diversion, threading fingers through the choppy mess of hair on his brow.

He could fall asleep, easily - take _that_, Chopper - but he can't quit in the middle of a _mission_. So he lifts his right hand up with the dial facing him nestled in Nami's lap - well, he _hopes_ it's facing them - it's difficult to tell, without looking through the little window - but there aren't many other places to point it at, really, so Luffy aims as best he can and presses the button.

Sanji's the last of his nakama, and Nami's shifting arm has kindly lifted the tablecloth enough for Luffy to aim the dial at his busy cook without leaving his cozy spot.

There are more ingredients on the counter now than Luffy cares about - only one item is at all important to him, and that's the one Sanji is cubing with swift, sure strokes: the meat.

Of course he can only get a picture of Sanji's back, but this is his cook's native habitat, _his kitchen_, _his cutting board_, _his knife_. Even shifting with clear discomfort on and off his injured right leg, Sanji is more at ease in the Merry's brick kitchen than any place else on the ship, or maybe even in the world. He's even put out his cigarette, unfinished - an unusual show of waste, but maybe he intends to pick it back up later.

"Nami," Luffy says as he peeks through the window to aim, "can we _please_ set sail tomorrow, after we get all the meat?"

He knows the answer before she even heaves a sigh, but her voice covers the quiet click of the dial as he captures Sanji, last of all, bending his right leg to give his knee yet another break.

"_No_, Luffy, you _know _we can't, not until our doctor deems our crew seaworthy. And that means you, Zoro and Sanji need to _rest_."

Luffy grins and nuzzles his face into her thighs, tucking the picture dial away for now.

"Right, _rest_," he says into her lap, making her wriggle - but before she can protest, he does just that.

-x-

(A/n) A little of everything for y'all~ You're welcome! 3


	11. 21 22 23

(A/n): I want to apologize for the extended break but I'll keep it short and just say I've been struggling with some pretty awful personal things (/laughs at understatement hahahaha) and I'm sorry you've all waited so many months for this. I'm working really hard to overcome this (/ugly laughter) so I can get back to writing more frequently.

Without further ado, here's an extra loo~ong chapter full of nakamaship~

* * *

* 21 22 23 *

* * *

After dinner has been eaten and Luffy's licked every plate clean of leftovers, Sanji twists Zoro into helping with the dishes.

Luffy may be busy under the table, sucking savory _strongnuff_ (or whatever) juice off his fingers, but he's not blind or deaf. Zoro grumbles his usual complaints, "You're not _my_ boss, love-cook! _Clean 'em yourself,"_ but he doesn't fight when Sanji yanks him up from the bench by the elbow.

And though his swordsman jerks his arm free as soon as he's on his feet, he pulls towards himself and _up_, awkward but deliberate. Sanji snaps, "_Watch_ it, shitty swordsman!" but he only stumbles a _little_ on his bad leg on his way back to the sink.

"Look alive!" A dishtowel slaps Zoro across the face.

Luffy chokes on a laugh as his swordsman growls, "Cook - !" Zoro pulls his foot back a little, like he might give Sanji a boot in the ass, but his cook is eyeing him, waiting for it, and Zoro lowers the foot and trudges over to the sink instead, muttering, "Thought you wanted me to wash dishes, Prince Dumbass."

"Tch! You can do the _drying. _As if I'd let you bang my dishes around... You'd just break my good plates, you moss-headed ape!"

"Shut it, curly, or it'll be your face I break."

They stand shoulder to shoulder, only looking up from their tasks to grumble low-voiced threats and hissed insults at each other. Despite the back-and-forth verbal abuse, their postures are loose as they work side by side, Zoro's shoulders even slouched forward a little and Sanji's left hip leaning into the edge of the counter, injured right knee gently bent.

They fall into a rhythm, and the jibes taper off into the sloshing of water and the clinking of plates and glasses. Each time Sanji passes a dish to Zoro, their shoulders brush, a fleeting but firm contact, but they don't speak other than the occasional "Here," or "You missed a spot," with an added "Shit-cook," for good measure.

Luffy leans over Nami's lap and smothers his giggles against her thighs, earning a huffy sigh from his navigator and an iron-handed grip across the back of his neck.

"Luffy! You _better not get sauce on my shorts._"

"Hands're clean!" he laughs into her lap, even sticking his hands out from under the tablecloth to prove his innocence.

She hums in assent and though she doesn't release his neck, her grasp loosens until it's more of a cozy embrace than a strangulation. Luffy brings his hands back under the table and lies still, determined to pretend - what was that word Robin said the other day - _quietude?_

"Shishishi," he burbles against one creamy thigh. Nami's fingers squeeze a warning. "Sorry~ sorry," he mumbles with a grin.

He peeks out from under the tablecloth. Sanji and Zoro are growling at each other again, hands busy with dishes even as they shove at each other with shoulders, and elbows, too. Luffy reaches into his sweatshirt and draws out the picture dial, pressing his mouth against Nami's thigh in an attempt to hold in the mirth tickling his throat.

"Luffy, what are you _doing_?"

"N-Nothin', nothin'!" Her thigh muffles his words and the accompanying sniggers.

He aims the dial at his bickering men.

"It doesn't _feel_ like _nothing_." Her hand tightens again, but he only grins, his lips and teeth scraping across her smooth skin, and under the cover of her outraged squeal, he clicks the button, just as Zoro parries an elbow jab by Sanji with a forearm and shoves his cook off balance.

"Get _off!_" Nami rams the toe of her shoe into his side. He topples backwards onto his ass, still laughing, but then Sanji's voice peaks from across the room.

"You _shitty fuckin' bastard - _would you _watch it!"_

Everyone in the room turns to blink wide eyes as a string of more inventive expletives bounces off the walls of Merry's little kitchen. Even Usopp looks up from his workshop, looking dazed as he flips his binocular lens up.

Zoro raises his eyebrows at Sanji. Their cook grips the countertop and bends double, holding his injured right leg up off the ground and not even trying for vocabulary anymore, just spitting, "_Shit, fuck, _you _shitty fuckin' _piece of_ shit,_" at the stony-faced swordsman.

"Sanji," Chopper pipes up as the obscenities wind down to intermittent insults and groans, "please sit down, you really shouldn't be standing at all."

"Cram it," Sanji growls.

"Oi," Zoro says, quiet but _hard_, a warning that makes Luffy freeze, but Sanji bristles.

"Don't _you - _" He lifts his injured leg higher, like he might take a swing at his swordsman, but he either thinks better of it or the knee throbs an agonizing reminder, because he drops it again so fast he almost topples forward.

Zoro puts a hand out, just a touch under a shoulder to slow his fall, but Sanji slaps the hand away and straightens up on his own.

He's puffing for breath, though, and his face flushes across the cheeks, from embarrassment or anger or pain - possibly all three, Luffy thinks, with the way Sanji glares at Zoro.

"Sit down before you fall down," Zoro says. He turns back to the sink like the matter's settled, taking a deliberate step to the left so there is no more space for Sanji to stand at the sink.

"I don't take orders from _you_," Sanji snaps back.

"Oh? Did you need me to carry you to your seat, Your shitty Highness?"

"That _does it_." Sanji yanks the knot of his necktie loose, his flush darkening as it spreads to his neck. His grip on the edge of the counter tightens, and Luffy opens his mouth as the countertop creaks in protest. Should he laugh at their bickering or intervene?

"Sanji," Chopper starts, but the cook cuts him off with a barked, "_No!_"

Into the echo of Sanji's shout, Chopper makes a small noise, somewhere between a smothered squeak and a hiccup. Luffy frowns, stuffs the picture dial away, and squeezes up between Nami and Robin, flipping the tablecloth out of the way so he can see his little reindeer properly.

Chopper turns halfway at Luffy's touch. Their hats bump each other. The little doctor's mouth is all screwed up and trembly like he's trying really hard not to cry, and the shimmery wetness in his wide dark eyes is _the last straw_.

But Nami beats him to it. "_Sanji-kun_," she says, in _that tone, _low and slow and careful with that boiling undercurrent of fury - even though it isn't directed at him, Luffy cringes, goosebumps rippling all up and down his arms.

"Yes, Nami-san?" It's a testament to Sanji's anger that his glare doesn't budge from Zoro, who ignores him completely in favor of the remaining dishes.

Nami braces her heels against the floorboards and twists around on the bench, like she might actually get up and beat some sense into Sanji. Swallowing a tremor of hesitation, Luffy flings an arm around her hips to keep her seated, and his other arm around Chopper, hugging them to either side of his face.

Nami huffs, "_Luffy,"_ and tries to wriggle free, but he only tightens his hold, grinning as he smushes a denim-clothed bun into his cheek. "_Ah! _Luffy, you - dammit! Sanji-kun," she says, her voice rising with a wavery edge of exasperation, "Come and sit down!"

The cook turns his head and blinks at the struggling navigator like her words and tone haven't quite sunken in yet. The ruddiness retreats to a faint pink tinge as it dawns on him that _his Lady needs him_.

Then his eyes shift down, to Luffy and, finally, to Chopper, and his cook grits his teeth.

"_Aw_, shit, Chopper…" Sanji hunches his shoulders and lifts his hands, not all the way, a kind of nervous gesture that doesn't quite make it to placating defense, like his pride is still too ruffled to allow concession. But then he sighs and looks away as he holds out a hand and says, "C'mon then, Dr. Chopper, I'm at your mercy."

Luffy feels the little tremble that runs down his doctor's spine. He gives him a squeeze, rubbing his cheek into his fuzzy side, and releases him with a pat on the back.

Chopper wiggles on the bench a moment longer but finally breaks out in a grin and stutters, "C-Calling me doctor won't make me happy~ you jerk~!"

He hops down and puts his little hoof into Sanji's offered hand. Sanji's mouth turns up at the corner, but there's a small furrow on his brow as Chopper leads his to the other side of the table and Luffy thinks he hears a softly mumbled, "Sorry, man."

Chopper instructs Sanji to lie down along the empty bench, with his injured leg propped up. Then he says, "I'll need to _see_ your knee, Sanji."

Sanji pauses halfway down to the bench, unlit cigarette falling from his mouth. "What, you want me to take my pants off in front of the Ladies?"

"I could carry you down to the men's room," Chopper says, voice going squeaky with concern.

"That won't be necessary, Chopper," Nami says, turning all the way around on the other bench so she's watching Zoro in the kitchen with her back to Sanji. "Don't worry, Sanji-kun, we promise not to peek."

Sanji straightens up and coos, "_Aw, _Nami-san, so modest~! But you lovely ladies can look any time~!"

Robin buries her nose in her book without comment, but Luffy catches the small smile she hides before he ducks back under the table.

"Maybe another time, Sanji-kun," Nami says.

"I am a~lways at your service, My Ladies!"

Luffy snickers. Sanji hears it and narrows his eyes at him but at least it's his usual scowl now. "What's that shit-eating grin for," he mutters as he pulls his shoes off and fumbles with his belt. "Don't make me kick your teeth in, ya damn monkey."

His usually agile fingers struggle with his fly and he glances around at the room more than once like there might be strangers hiding in the shadows - Luffy looks too, his cook is so paranoid - but Chopper already has his pack open, a tin of ointment, some bandages, and a few bottles of medications set out in easy reach.

Their little reindeer is waiting, and though he doesn't say anything to rush his patient, Sanji sighs and shucks off his pants in one go. He stretches out on the bench, unsettling the skirt of the tablecloth as he uses both hands to lift his leg up with a gingerliness that betrays how stiff the injured knee has become.

Luffy claps his hands over his mouth in an attempt to hold in his laughter - Sanji's heart boxers are just - oh no, he's noticed his snorting…! But instead of lashing out at Luffy, Sanji reaches a hand down to pick up his fallen cigarette.

Chopper pulls himself up on the bench and tugs the knee brace down. The extent of his knee's condition becomes painfully clear as the elastic bandaging unwinds and falls away. Luffy gasps a little, because the knee is swollen twice its usual size, the skin red and puffy. Chopper lifts a hoof to his mouth, his forehead wrinkling with worry, but whatever shock he feels, he doesn't voice, maybe for Sanji's sake.

Their little doctor does sigh though. "I was afraid this would happen," he says, frowning at Sanji as the cook lights his cigarette with trembling hands. "I _told_ you, didn't I? You've been on your feet _all day_."

"I'm the fuckin' cook, Chopper," he says around his cigarette, but his voice lacks the fire of earlier. He puffs a little smoke and, Luffy notices, doesn't look down at his knee.

"I - I know. Maybe Usopp can put together some crutches for you… o-or a stool to sit on," Chopper adds when he catches Sanji's glare through the swirling smoke. "For now, your knee needs a massage to get the blood circulating better, and you need to keep it elevated - no moving from this spot, you understand?"

"Aye, aye, Dr. Chopper."

Chopper squirms. "Sh-shut up~! Some ice and another coating of the salve should take care of the worst of the inflammation, at least. Although…" He jumps down from the bench and transforms to Heavy Point. His hands hover over Sanji's knee for a moment before he straightens up and pouts. "My hands are too big to massage you properly, and my hooves are too sharp…"

"Nami-swa~n has such _wonderful_ hands_ - _"

"Only in your dreams, Sanji-kun," Nami says, not even turning around to dismiss the unspoken plea.

Sanji sighs. "Perhaps Robin-ch - "

"No, thank you, Cook-san."

"A-Ah. Rejection…?" Sanji presses a hand to his heart, puffing smoke through his gritted teeth like it truly pains him.

Luffy snorts and grasps the bench's planks. "_I'll do it!_"

"_No!" _Sanji and Chopper shout at the same time, Chopper even going so far as to shield Sanji's knee from Luffy's view with his considerable bulk.

"_Aw_ but - "

"No, Luffy, you'll just cause more damage!"

"No I won't," Luffy mumbles through pouted lips, squinting at Chopper, but his doctor doesn't budge.

Luffy pats his hat onto his head and wriggles his arms up through his sleeves until they're ensconced inside his sweatshirt, where he crosses them firmly and glowers at the two men.

"Usopp could do it," Chopper says, turning his head to look over his shoulder at their busily working sharpshooter.

"Hey, Long-nose," Sanji calls, "Dr. Chopper needs your help."

Usopp glances up from the mess of metal and dial guts before him. "Hmm? Chopper-kun needs _The Great Usopp's_ _aid?_ And what venture is this?" Luffy snorts - his sniper _must _know (the room isn't big enough to allow privacy) because he makes a big show of using the back of a grease-smeared hand to push up his goggles.

Chopper narrows his eyes at Usopp's dirty hands. "Never mind," he sighs. He looks back down at his own enormous hands and seems to be reconsidering the possibility.

"Oi. Move over."

Chopper glances up, blinking in surprise when he finds Zoro standing over his hunched form, drying his hands with the dishtowel. "Zoro?"

"Well?"

"Oh, _hell no_," Sanji starts, but he sputters over the rest of his objection when the damp towel smacks him in the face.

"Not much choice, is there, curly-cook," Zoro says, his voice calm despite the disgruntled words. His lips tilt up in a smirk like he enjoys Sanji's choked-out profanities as he straddles the bench and lifts the cook's injured leg to rest over his left thigh.

"There're dishes to be washed, you shit-head!"

"Eh? Finished 'em already."

"You _better not have chipped any - "_

"Zoro?" Chopper pipes in from bench-level, having returned to Brain Point, "are you _sure_? You have to be _gentle_." He narrows his eyes at the swordsman, like he doesn't believe he has the gentleness in him.

Zoro snorts at the little reindeer's implication. His eyes slide to the side, meet Luffy's under the fringe of the tablecloth; Luffy holds his gaze, squeezing his arms closer inside his sweatshirt as shivers of anticipation chase down his spine. His swordsman flashes a little teeth. "Are you worried?" He tilts his head to the side, directing the grin at their doctor, his earrings rolling with the motion and glinting in the overhead lighting. "A master swordsman has the power to cut only what he wishes."

Chopper lifts his hooves to his mouth and oohs, his dark eyes wide with glittering awe. "_Zoro~_ you're so co~ol…!"

"Tch! Just pretty words," Sanji grumbles around his cigarette.

"Maybe to an amateur," Zoro fires back with a pointed look at the supine cook. To the starry-eyed reindeer, he says, "Pass me one of those pillows, will ya?"

"Ah! Of course." He's Doctor Chopper again, selecting the fullest of the pillows on the pallets and placing it with care under Sanji's calve and knee to help stabilize the joint. "Now, Zoro, you'll need to use the salve in that tin there. That one, yes, it'll help with the inflammation."

Luffy hears the lid pop free and scrunches his nose as the bitter smell wafts down to him.

Sanji sighs a long plume of smoke before holding the teetering end of the cigarette away from his face. He reaches for the tabletop; Luffy can hear his hand patting around, probably for an ashtray. He mutters a curse when he doesn't find one, but there's a fluttering of petals, followed by a scrape, of ceramic on cloth-covered wood, as one slides his way.

"Aaah, Robin-chan, _tha~nk _you~!" Sanji taps the ash off his cigarette and transfers the ashtray to the floor by his side. Zoro waits, each hand curled around a hefty palmful of ointment. His face is blank.

Sanji sighs again, harsher this time like he's saying _Get the fuck on with it then_, and lies back on the bench, cigarette hand dangling by the ashtray.

"Chopper?" Zoro looks to their doctor for instruction.

"Okay. I want you to start with the knee. Not directly on the kneecap, but down each side, just with your fingertips for now. Gentle pressure, okay?" He doesn't narrow his eyes at their swordsman this time.

Zoro leans forward and lays his fingertips along both sides of the swollen knee. He hasn't even applied any pressure yet and Sanji sucks in sharp breath, which he hides behind a drag from his cigarette, holding his hand over his face even as he coughs and exhales the hurried lungful of smoke.

Luffy hears that hitch, though, and he thinks Zoro does too, because he catches the second glance his swordsman flicks at Sanji's obscured face.

"Cook. This is gonna hurt."

Sanji's raised hand shakes a little, visible only because the cigarette's trailing smoke wavers with those barest tremors, but his voice is calm when the cook scoffs, "Tch! Don't hold back on my account."

In reply, Zoro presses with his fingers, squeezing downward and smearing the salve at the same time, in four straight lines on either side, with only just enough pressure to indent the swollen flesh. Still, Sanji stiffens and chokes down a half-formed groan, and Luffy can see his teeth grinding behind the cover of his hand.

"That's good, Zoro," Chopper says, "Now go back up and do it again, over and over just like that." He's got one of his little pill bottles open, and he shakes out two small red pills. "Sanji, swallow these. They'll help with the inflammation, too."

Sanji grumbles but doesn't refuse.

Zoro follows Chopper's instruction, placing the pads of his fingers back near the crest of the knee and pressing downward, repeating the compressions, press and smooth and back again, so many times Luffy loses count, until Sanji's knee is glistening with the ointment and red from all the rubbing, although Luffy thinks it isn't the same tight glowing redness as before.

"Ooh, that looks better already," Luffy says, leaning forward until his shoulders rest against the edge of the bench and he can smell the soft scent of Sanji's cologne beneath the tingly burn of the salve, and is that an undercurrent of sweat? Sanji glances at him, smirking a little, though he doesn't look down at his knee and his eyes are half-lidded and glossy. Still, his cook lifts his free hand off its resting place on his stomach and pats Luffy's straw hat down over his eyes. "Hey..!"

"It does," Chopper agrees, his gaze not leaving Sanji's knee. "Zoro, why don't you add the heel of your palm to each pass? I want you to press a little deeper, okay? But be gentle around the kneecap still."

"Sure," Zoro says without looking up from his work. On the next compression, he follows the press of his fingers with his heels, digging in and pushing down and across the sides of the knee.

Sanji's back almost leaves the bench as he stiffens again, biting his lip to hold in a cry that Luffy hears anyway, a scratchy growl that doesn't leave his throat. But as Zoro repeats the motion, first fingers, then firm heels, Sanji squeezes his eyes shut and exhales a shaky sigh.

"Ya gonna live, Your curly Highness?" Zoro jeers, pressing his heels into his knee again. Luffy thinks it's almost like how Sanji works the stiffness out of his pizza dough, kneading and smoothing again and again. Except this is flesh, not dough, and it's Sanji's flesh and it _hurts_.

Zoro's face hasn't changed, but Luffy sees a tightness around his eyes and slightly frowning mouth that he doesn't think are all from concentration.

"Aw, dry up, ya bastard marimo," Sanji counters with a (slightly breathless) sneer, "It doesn't even fuckin' tickle much."

Zoro chuckles, and kneads harder, making Sanji groan aloud. His cigarette has about burned itself out from neglect.

Luffy worries his own lip, biting down with every grunt and expletive Sanji gasps. Chopper seems satisfied with Zoro's work, though, so he doesn't even contemplate interfering. Instead, he wriggles an arm up through the neck of his sweatshirt, doffs his straw hat and pats it over Sanji's flushed, strained face.

"Ah! Luffy…?" Sanji peeks out from under the hat, his ragged breath whiffling the brim a little.

Luffy grins. Sanji huffs a short laugh and tilts his head to the side, not enough to rest it on Luffy's shoulder, but enough for the hat's rough brim to tap it.

Sanji seems to relax under the shade of the straw hat, even remembering to puff some life back into his dying cigarette and tensing only when Zoro hits a particularly sore spot - maybe it's just that his knee is feeling better than it was, but Luffy still utters a pleased, "Shishishi~" before scooting back under the table.

Chopper murmurs, "That's probably enough of that. Now if you can massage the thigh too, rub the muscles deep, that will get the blood supply flowing better and flush away some of this accumulated fluid in the joint."

Zoro's only reply is a thoughtful hum. The tin thumps against the table as he scoops up another handful of the smelly salve. He smears it across Sanji's lower thigh.

"Hey, that's cold!"

"Ya want some stinky cheese with your whine?"

"Don't make me kick you...!"

"I'd like to see you try."

"Guys," Chopper starts, but Zoro grins at the little doctor and digs his fingers into Sanji's thigh, interrupting Sanji mid-profanity.

"_Ow!_ Fuckin' _hell_, Zoro, _are you trying to amputate my leg - "_

"Suck it up, prince-chan."

"_Chan - ? You - !"_

Sanji chokes on the rest of his sentence as Zoro kneads closer to his knee, and Luffy laughs because his cook's face is red as an overripe tomato. Any redder and he might pop - the mental image makes Luffy sputter and snort even harder.

Sanji glares under the table at him. Luffy scoots further under, eyes tearing with mirth, until his shoulders bump the other bench and Nami's back.

Chopper puts a hoof on Sanji's shoulder and squeaks, "Sanji, please calm down! Your blood pressure…!"

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya," Sanji grumbles, tilting the straw hat lower over his face. The brim rustles with a noisy sigh. He brings his cigarette up for another drag.

Zoro falls silent as he concentrates again, the smug curve of his smile diminishing back into a grim line. He's using his whole hands now as he works the thick muscles of Sanji's thigh, thumbs rolling the muscles back and forth while his fingers knead the sides, always following with a long deep press of his heels.

Luffy slouches against Nami, resting his head in the soft curve of her lower back. She's so comfortable he could doze off right there, but at this position, the tablecloth is blocking his view of his men.

So he slumps down to the floorboards and wiggles around inside his sweatshirt until he finds the picture dial and brings it up to the neck opening.

This angle is perfect. He can see right up under the edge of the tablecloth, and while Zoro's shoulders and face are still out of view, Luffy would know those heavy-knuckled hands anywhere, not to mention that scar, the bottom edge just visible on his bare abdomen above the trademark haramaki.

But the _hands. _Luffy grins, tapping his chin with the dial. Sanji seems to have relaxed again, or he could even have fallen asleep - Luffy can't see his face under the shade of his hat, but his cook's breathing has calmed, his free hand lies limp, slightly curled, on his chest, and his cigarette dangles over the ashtray, barely smoldering.

The room is hushed save the occasional rustle of a page being turned, and the dull background clinks and jingles of Usopp tinkering at his workshop. Even Chopper has settled on the floor by his patients, his herb collection unfolded before him as he grinds something (sharp and bitter, maybe for more ointment) in his little stone mortar.

Sanji's not quite asleep, Luffy learns, although his voice is thick and drowsy when he says, "Zoro. You done this before?"

Zoro hums in wordless assent. There's a pause, in which the swordsman adjusts his angle and digs both thumbs and heels into the muscles on the inside of Sanji's thigh. It must be a tight spot because Luffy _sees _his thigh's outer muscles jump as Sanji tenses again.

Then Zoro says, "Am I just that good?" and Luffy can't see his face but he _hears_ the grin in his smug question.

"Ch," Sanji scoffs from under the hat, a smile softening his tone as he adds, "Not a fuckin' chance, marimo."

Luffy looks at them through the picture dial, angling it horizontally (well, mostly) so the image inside fills with Sanji's supine form: his tilted head, face shielded by the straw hat, his long torso and his bare hairy leg, glistening with salve, red from frost burns and so much rubbing. And then Zoro's lower half, feet braced on the floor as his patient hands pinch and roll, moving the muscles back and forth and up and down, until Sanji doesn't react to the manipulation, except when Zoro kneads right up to the knee.

Luffy thinks he hears Sanji suppress a yawn under the hat before the cook mutters, "Not _bad_, though."

Zoro's barked laugh hides the click of the shutter when Luffy presses the button.

"I'd like to see you do better, curly-cook."

"Hah! I'd _love_ to demonstrate on Nami-san~ or perhaps Robin-chan is still a little stiff…?"

Luffy hears Robin's quiet chuckle through the table. "I'm quite alright but I'll certainly keep the offer in mind, Cook-san."

"Nice try, Sanji-kun," Nami says.

"You wound me, Nami-san," Sanji moans in _too-well_ feigned anguish while clutching his chest. "I aim only to please my Ladies…!"

"Quit wigglin' so damn much, ya idiot," Zoro growls, putting a heavy hand on Sanji's thigh to hold his leg still.

"_You - _aren't you _done_ yet?" Sanji tips the straw hat up a little so he can glare at Zoro.

"You want a proper massage or not? Quit squirmin' so much or I'll break _your other knee._"

"My knee _isn't bro_ - "

"Actually," Chopper cuts in, "that looks _much_ better, Zoro. I think that'll be enough for tonight, as long as Sanji _stays off his feet_." He narrows his eyes at Sanji. "Why don't you lie down here on this bed and prop your leg up." Chopper pushes one of the pallets up against the bench.

"Aye, aye, Dr. Chopper," Sanji says with a mock salute before flopping off the bench, to land on the mattress with a _floof _of surrender from the feather pillows he smushes under his shoulders. The prized straw hat flutters off to the side, rustling against the floorboards.

"Oh, you~ shut up~!" Chopper looks up at Zoro and squishes his own cheeks with his hooves as he giggles - Luffy can't let the opportunity pass…! He snaps another photo before he pulls the dial back into his sweatshirt and rolls closer to their side of the table, worming his way over the bench to fall onto the pallet by Sanji.

"Zoro," Chopper says, "can you pass me that compression bandage and the knee brace?"

"_Aw_, Chop - "

"Don't you start," Chopper interrupts Sanji before he has a chance to finish his protest. "You just _put that leg up already_ and _stay where you are_. Or I'll _tie you down myself_."

Sanji's jaw juts a little as he pouts at the little reindeer, but he lifts his stiff right leg up to rest on the bench. "Fine, fine. Though I wouldn't mind if the _Ladies - "_

"Don't even say it," Nami deadpans from the other side of the table.

Sanji breathes an uneasy laugh and doesn't say it.

"I'll help you tie him down," Zoro says with a toothy grin as he passes the desired objects to Chopper.

Sanji squints up at Zoro, scrunching his nose like he's caught a whiff of something rank. "You still here, you shitty excuse of a swordsman?"

Luffy laughs, because Zoro cants his head to the left, making his earrings jingle, his grin jerking up a little higher on one side as he says, "Aw but doesn't the wittle prince-chan want me to kiss his boo-boo aw better?"

Sanji bares his teeth and rises up on his elbows like he _might make a run for it_. Luffy wriggles his arms back up the sleeves of his sweatshirt, _just in case_. "Don't you _fuckin' dare - "_

"Heh! Only in your dreams, Sanji-_kun_," Zoro says with taunting similarity to Nami's earlier rejection.

Sanji shudders. "My _nightmares_, maybe."

"Isn't that sweet. You gonna wet the bed tonight?"

Sanji pushes himself further up. Luffy snorts back his guffaws - his cook might burst into flames if he flushes any brighter. "C'mere, you fuckin' asshole, and _say that again - !"_

"Like to see ya _make me,_" Zoro sneers, and he's _clearly_ egging Sanji on. Maybe he _wants_ an excuse to tie the fuming cook up, but Chopper shoves Sanji back down and says, "_No, Sanji! _M-Maybe Nami or Robin w-will kiss your knee…?" He stares pleadingly across the room but Robin studies her book like she hasn't heard a word, and Nami doesn't even turn around to look at them before she crosses her arms and utters a little _hmph!_

"My life is over," Sanji moans, throwing an arm over his face. "Burn me at sea so my ashes might some day find All Blue."

Luffy can't hold it in anymore. One explosive _Pff!_ and he dissolves into cackling howls of laughter.

"Luffy, you ass, show some respect…!" Sanji groans, mustering _just enough_ energy to glare at him from under his arm. Luffy claps his hands over his mouth in a (not very successful) attempt to silence his hooting, so he can hear Sanji's hoarsely-spoken 'final speech.' "Who do you think will _cook your meals_ when I am _gone? _And, oh… oh, I'm going… I'm going… Luffy… Always remember… that you are not alone… and… please take care of… the… Ladies… for… me…"

With one final dying gasp, he goes all limp like a dead fish.

"S-Sanji…!" Luffy sputters around withheld snorts, "You can… count on me…! Rest… in peace…!"

"S-Sanji, no!" Chopper wails, in despair so well feigned that Luffy stops laughing. The little reindeer throws himself over Sanji's chest. "Someone…! Someone, quick! We must… we must… re… res… resuscitate him… before it's too late!" He's a hopeless ball of giggling fuzz by the time he's managed to finish his sentence and Luffy thinks there are tears on both their faces, they're laughing so hard, but he can't be sure - he can't see very well -

"I-I'll do it!" Luffy declares, diving on the sprawled cook. He's got his face cupped in his hands and his lips all puckered up (and slobbery, the better to kiss with, right?) before Sanji springs to life, pushing at his chest and face and screaming, "No! No, no, stop! _Stop, stop! _I'm alive,_ I'm alive!"_

"Oh, alright," Luffy sighs, drawing back enough to make Sanji relax with relief. He glances up, catches Zoro's expectant eye for a brief, understanding second - then he grins and pounces again, before Sanji's even realized what he has planned.

He plants on Sanji's cheek the biggest, wettest kiss possible in that one second it takes for his cook to overcome his shock and ram a fist into his rubbery face.

Luffy collapses to the mattress, laughing and crying and holding his tingling cheek.

Sanji wipes a hand across his own cheek; it comes away sticky and dripping. "_AAGGH, Luffy…! _That's _disgusting!_ You fuckin' _animal!"_

"Luffy," Chopper says, "resuscitation is supposed to be _mouth-to-mouth_."

"_You little shit - "_

"Ooh, you think I should try again?"

"_Bastard - _don't you _dare - "_

"Gotta make sure he's alive," Zoro adds.

"No! _Luffy! Aggh, gerroff! You shitty monkey!"_

After two more attempts, Luffy decides his cook's face is far too well guarded and sits back, nursing his aching cheeks. Sanji's panting pretty hard by now, though, so _maybe -_

"_Don't_," Sanji starts, lifting a hand in preparation to defend himself.

But the cook doesn't expect his change of target, and Luffy has lunged and clamped his arms around Sanji's injured leg by the time he registers his imminent peril.

Sanji grasps handfuls of his sweatshirt and _yanks_. He shouts, "Luffy, _don't!_" and even Chopper squeals, "_Luffy, wait, not the - !" _but _it's too late_.

Still, Luffy _does _take care as he presses a full noisy kiss to Sanji's knee. "Mm_mmmwah!_ There, _all better!_" He loosens his hold on Sanji's thigh so Sanji can _drag him off_ without causing his cook further harm.

"You ass," Sanji huffs, and while he's still glaring, his mouth turns up a little with the beginnings of a smile.

Luffy grins, his cheeks burning with pleasure and his lips tingling from the ointment.

Chopper squeezes by him, still tittering as he straightens Sanji's leg and starts winding the elastic bandage around the knee.

There is a creak and rasp of bare, calloused feet on tired wooden planks, and then a rustle of straw as his hat is pressed firmly to Luffy's head. The heavy hand that bestows it stays, as its owner sinks to his knees on the mattress by Luffy's side.

"Zoro," he says, beaming at his swordsman, "do you want me to kiss _you, _too?"

Zoro barks a laugh as he flops over to stretch out on his back. "Only in your dreams, Captain," he says, flashing that same taunting grin as before, even as his eyes droop with impending sleep.

Luffy pats his hat lower, already missing that steady welcome weight, but all the same, he snickers through a toothy smile, "_Shishishi~_!" content to let it slide - for now, at least…!


End file.
